Busker Boy
by tinylittlerobots
Summary: He busks outside her apartment every morning. And somehow, he manages to play every song that she hates. #ACVDP2016


**A/N:** Inspired by a prompt from tumblr! Thanks to nom de plumme for inviting me to participate in this event.

This story can be read as a stand alone, but will be part of a series inspired by the Meet Cute: Indie RomCom edition prompt from tumblr.

The song that's included in this one shot is 'How I Feel About You' by Mayson the Soul, I had that on replay when I was writing this.

* * *

 **Busker Boy**

Cagalli sat up in her bed. The sheets that kept her warm at night were tangled between her legs, and her sleeping companions (Mr. Bunny and Sashimi) were tossed away on the floor like litter.

With underlines beneath her half lidded eyes she stared unfocusedly at nothing. Her mind at that moment was similar in that sense, unfocused with an absence of thoughts. She remained sitting silently in that exhausted state for five minutes until she realized that her head was bobbing downwards. Gravity seemingly attempted to drag her into dreamland again.

Running her fingers through the bird nest of her hair, she closed her eyes. Then she grabbed the tips of her hair with both her hands and started pulling her head from side to side like a game of tug of war. "Wake up!" she growled. Her head was pulled to the left. "Wake up!" Then to the right.

Directly beside her bed was a medium sized window covered with dense blue curtains. She dropped her chin onto the windowsill, and then with a weak jerk of her fingers she peeled back the curtains. The piercing light from the 11 AM sun punctuated her eyes open. A whiny sound of protest came out her mouth.

When she finally managed to get passed the light, she peered through the window.

Cagalli's face suddenly contorted to a frown.

There he was, outside her window as usual, in all his morning glory.

The guy whose melodic voice penetrated her brain with unwanted tunes, the guy whose cliché song choices made her hum aloud like a bubbling idiot on the subway, the guy whose crisp guitar playing made her feel like he was plucking the hairs off her eyebrows.

"Busker boy," she grumbled as she watched him with disdain.

* * *

Said 'Busker boy' had a name – Athrun.

He had been suppressing his lips into a straight line, but the corner of them resisted and quirked upwards in a tiny smile when he stood at his everyday busking spot.

His busking spot was right across the street of the apartment he resided in and was beside the streetcar stop. Most would question him as to why this was his preferred spot. The only passersby at this time of day that would lend him some change were elders on walks and stay at home mothers pushing their strollers.

Athrun had his reasons. And those reasons were behind the smile that couldn't be kept at bay.

Clutched in his hand was his black guitar case with stickers aligned on the sides. Bending down to place the case on the cement ground, Athrun stealthily took a quick peak at the adjacent apartment, hoping that the blonde girl on the fourth floor had opened her curtains.

That tiny smile of his turned into a full-fledged grin the second he saw what he hoped for.

* * *

Busker boy was tuning each string of his acoustic guitar with a pick between his teeth.

From the windowsill, Cagalli could only wonder what shitty song choices she would have endure during her wait for the streetcar that morning.

He'd started appearing one week ago and by then she had already been in the depths of annoyance with him.

Every time she saw him, he was wearing that green canvas jacket and those heavy black boots, alongside the perfectly fitted black tuque. Whenever he opened his mouth to sing, Cagalli noticed how supple and smooth his lips were – that had irked her beyond relief, how could someone's lips be so moisturized in the cold February air? Hers couldn't last three hours without getting chapped!

Cagalli pouted, staring at him once more.

Busker boy finished tuning the last string of his guitar. Swiftly, he took out the pick from his teeth and slowly strummed, listening carefully.

His over looker strained her eyes when she noticed that he had not continued strumming and had not even begun to sing. Busker boy just stood there, with his guitar in his arms, brows knit together, as if deep in thought. Perhaps he encountered a revelation saying that he should stop busking outside her window.

That wasn't it though.

An upward tilt of his head, the brilliant green eyes of his were cast through her window and landed straight on her gaze. Their eyes locked for a couple of seconds, promptly acknowledging one another's existence – until Cagalli ducked beneath the windowsill. Heart beating faster than any rock n' roll drumbeat while red spread all over her cheeks, she yanked the curtains shut.

Plopping back down on her bed, she berated herself for being caught in the act looking.

Now Busker boy knew of her existence as another audience member to his one-man shows.

* * *

Athrun had thought a miracle happened when their eyes initially met.

He could have waved, he could have smiled at her. But he did not do any of that because before he knew it, all he saw was a turf of blonde hair disappearing like a ghost, only to be replaced by a small, deft hand whipping the curtains shut on him.

 _At least she noticed me._

Then, without warning he began to laugh at himself.

His band mates were right.

Athrun was completely lovesick.

* * *

For the next two weeks, Athrun continued to busk outside her building.

Undoubtedly, he knew how to put on a show. When he played, his beaming smile charmed those who passed by, making them stop in their tracks to open up their ears to him. As the strings rung against the hollow of the guitar, his voice held a lighthearted quality that soothed whoever took a closer listen. Grooving to his own music by swaying his relaxed shoulders from side to side, Athrun thoroughly enjoyed himself more than anyone who tossed their coins in his case.

Whenever he caught a glimpse of the blonde girl crossing the street to catch the streetcar, he would start playing louder to the point that he knew he sounded obnoxious.

All he really wanted was her attention, not her blatant efforts of ignoring him.

Maybe he was a bit delusional. But he kept secretly hoping that with every love song he played, she would listen to the lyrics and wish he were playing for her.

(When in fact, Athrun actually was.)

* * *

For the next two weeks, the first thing Cagalli would do before she hopped out of bed was peak through the bottom of her curtains and out her window. She never admitted it to herself, but she liked catching glimpses of Busker boy. This had become part of her daily routine.

It's not like she spent ten minutes deciding a nice outfit to wear for him to see even if he could only see her for a couple of minutes. And it's not like she spent too much time perfecting her winged eyeliner and exfoliating her lips to look as soft as his. Hell no.

She began looking slightly nicer than normal for the sole reason that she felt like it.

Before Cagalli would step out her apartment, she tended to force on an impeccably crafted scowl. When she had reached the streetcar stop, she made sure she was standing close to Busker boy so that he would notice her 'bad' mood and stop playing covers of all the cheesy songs that she hated.

But Busker boy never relented. He played with the same rigor that she thought was kind of endearing.

If only he had a better taste in song choice then maybe she would have given him a chance.

* * *

This went on for some time, their interactions limited to far off double meanings that got lost in translation.

But this had stopped the day Cagalli's alarm didn't go off.

She awoke with a jolt to her whole body as if she was summoned by a supernatural being. Sitting up so quickly, she could have broken her spine, she grabbed the cellphone beneath her pillow and checked the time.

 _1:34 P.M_. She missed more than an hour of a crucial lecture! Panic started to thunder through her body. Hands trembling, Cagalli didn't know where to start with herself. "Agh!" she groaned. With rushed thinking, she wasn't sure if she should skip that lecture, or come in embarrassingly late – her professor would for sure scold her in front of the 200 students. Or she could try to find a way to sneak in during the ten-minute break –wait did the ten-minute break pass already?

Then suddenly her thoughts were slashed away.

 _"_ _I'd like to tell you. How I feel about – how I feel about you…"_

The words that blended in perfectly with the lax rhythm streamed into her ears, like a fish swimming through water.

 _"_ _How I feel about – how I feel about you…now or never."_

That song…

Undeniably, she recognized it.

Cagalli had played that song over 60 times on her iPod. She had replayed it on her commute, on her walk to school, and even when she was showering. She played it over and over again until she was sick of it and wanted to throw it back to the oblivion of undiscovery.

Hearing Busker boy's rendition of an already hated song made her want to smash his acoustic against her head.

 _"_ _We're never ever getting back…together. Together…"_

Those redundant words cut an imaginary string in her chest.

Shoving back her curtains, practically ripping them off of the rod, Cagalli slammed open her window, making it tremble against the low winds.

She stuck her head out.

Busker boy was prancing on the spot, his vocals so loud that it sounded as if he were singing into her ears.

Face scrunched into a glare, she yelled, "I'll pay you ten bucks if you stop playing that song!"

Palming his strings as his mouth sewn shut, he stared up at her in surprise for a mere moment. Then as if coming to the realization that her call was to him, his face brightened from his glimmering eyes to the grin that stretched across his lips.

His response, "How about a date instead?"

The window slammed shut.

* * *

Athrun started laughing to himself. Rejection didn't hurt as much.

Why?

Because she recognized the song he was playing.

That song was written by an obscure, indie band that no one in their city had ever heard of.

Only those two knew.

Somehow that made whatever existed between them special.

* * *

After slamming her window shut, Cagalli's back hit hard against her bed. There was an intense heat radiating from her cheeks.

She wasn't fuming… she was utterly flustered.

Hastily grabbing Mr. Bunny and Sashimi, she tucked them between her arms then proceeded to curl into a ball. Cagalli didn't want to think about him, not one bit.

But all she heard was Busker boy's voice and guitar playing seeping through her windows.

With nothing better to do, she began to perk her ears, focusing on the sweet sounds elicited from him.

Soon enough, a smile crept along her mouth.

For the rest of that afternoon, Cagalli happily listened.


End file.
